Eight legendary dragons

Many ancient monsters that had long been sealed away were released when the world ripped apart... Humbaba, Deathgaze...even the eight legendary dragons.

—Old man in Albrook in the World of Ruin

The eight legendary dragons(伝説の八竜, Densetsu no Hachi Ryū?, lit. legendary eight dragons), also known as eight dragons, are a series of bosses and part of two major sidequests in Final Fantasy VI. Each corresponds to one of the eight types of elemental damage in the game.

Contents

The eight legendary dragons are enemies released during the end of the world. In the World of Ruin, the dragons have spread across the world and appear in various locations, though with the exception of the Opera House, they are not necessarily hostile towards anyone and mostly keep to their own devices. The Returners inevitably run into the eight legendary dragons along their journey to defeat Kefka Palazzo.

The eight legendary dragons need to be defeated to gain an additional magicite. Defeating them all breaks the seal they had placed on the esperCrusader a thousand years ago, giving Crusader's magicite to the party. The eight legendary dragons are optional bosses and can be killed in any order, although it may be simpler to defeat them before visiting Kefka's Tower, as it avoids additional trips to the final dungeon.

In the Final Fantasy VI Advance release and later remakes, once the eight legendary dragons have been defeated the player gains access to the Dragons' Den, a bonus dungeon. Improved versions of the dragons reside here, each using a unique gimmick to make them more difficult to defeat. Defeating each dragon unlocks a seal in the den, and once all the seals are broken, the player can fight the superbossKaiser Dragon in the dungeon's deepest layer. Defeating Kaiser Dragon earns the player the ultimate magicite, Diabolos.

Originally it had been planned that after defeating the final dragon, all eight would merge into a superboss, the Kaiser Dragon. This was scrapped, but data for the original Kaiser Dragon remains within the game.

Examining code found in the enemy formations data in the SNES release of Final Fantasy VI will reveal that rematches with the dragons, as what occurs in the Advance and subsequent releases, were planned for. Unused pieces of battle dialogue exist in which the eight legendary dragons call each other into battle in sequence. Text also exists that say "Storm Drgn undergoing changes!", "Dirt Dragon got mad!", and "Skull Dragon lives on magic pwr!" These indicate the dragons may have had gimmicks as they got in the Advance release, where Storm Dragon has improved speed and evasion, Earth Dragon is "enraged" and has higher attack power, and Skull Dragon can only be killed by bringing its MP to zero. There also exist a dummied Kaiser Dragon that is a palette swap of the Blue Dragon and Fiend Dragon. It appears to be a prototype Kaiser Dragon, as the newer Kaiser Dragon's sprite is a more elaborate modification of the Kaiser Dragon's dummied sprite.

[view·edit·purge]A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that features in the myths of many cultures.

Dragon types in Final Fantasy are typically inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. Lung dragons in Dungeons & Dragons are based upon Chinese and Japanese dragons, and are spirits that embody and empower aspects of nature rather than being normal, physical creatures. Most lung dragons don't have breath weapons, but use spell-like abilities.

Of the eight legendary dragons, the Holy Dragon is the only one to appear on the Veldt and have a Rage associated with it.

Final Fantasy XII pays homage to the eight legendary dragons with the Earth Tyrant boss, based on the Earth Dragon and bearing the same Japanese name. Earth Tyrant's bestiary entry mentions him as a member of "Eight legendary Wyrms of great Power".